You get an
outdoor room with privacy, shelter, and a 360-degree view. Your yard
gets a party palace with lots of visual impact. And your property
gets a boost in value.

How fabulous
is that -- not a looser in the bunch!

A wrought iron
gazebo is an outdoor sanctuary that extends your living space and
costs a whole lot less than adding a room to the house.

And the
elegance of a wrought iron gazebo will make any little trinket
you add look absolutely fabulous!

The Love Affair
Begins

I fell in love
with gazebos as a child. I could see my neighbors backyard from my
bedroom window. I watched in fascination as their wrought iron
gazebo changed personalities with every season.

Chilly, gray
days backdropped the gazebo in winter. Even now, I can remember
thinking how much it looked like the carousels I rode in summer.

It wore tulips
and daffodils in the spring, while climbing vines dressed its
pillars, and huge ferns hung from its arches.

All summer
long, colorful cotton swags billowed from the center of the gazebos
ceiling to its corners. And small breezes played happily with the
fabric that fell between the arches.

Autumn had the
gazebos floor dressed in pumpkins and gourds. Hay bales covered
with mums became its border.

The Love Affair Bares
Fruit!

Its the strangest thing, but somehow I've been
hard-wired to love all things outdoor décor.
I
ts crazy -- I know
-- but completely true.

As an adult, I
still love wrought iron gazebos.

When I was blessed
to build my own home, nothing I tried would make my husband
agree to live with me in a wrought iron
gazebo.

Believe me, I tried
everything!

So,
instead I built a fully enclosed, 8-sided gazebo and
accented it with fabulous, wonderful wrought iron outdoor
decor! The picture you see above is my gazebo house. There's
more than one way to skin a cat -- I always say!

My friend Vali
takes the most beautiful pictures. And she was kind enough to take
this one for me. But I'm digital image-challenged. So the image you
see doesn't do justice to Vali's talent.

The house is
actually 3 octagons -- one is set inside the other with another
octagon on top. That's the cupola. And wrought iron is
absolutely everywhere!

Now you know I'm crazy -- crazy about outdoor
décor!

Gazebo Fun
Facts

The word gazebo
is an inter-mingling of the words gazed and about.

Gazebos are
called everything from summerhouses, screen houses, kiosks and
pavilions to pergolas, arbors, grottos, teahouses, and pagodas.

They've been
around for literally thousands of years.

And many of
today's wrought iron gazebo designs are actually inspired by
medieval architecture and Italian cathedrals.

Wrought Iron Gazebo
Features

Here's the
short list of features you can expect to get with your wrought iron
gazebo:

Elegant scroll
patterns

High style

Weather resistance

Fade resistance

Durability

Reliability

Low maintenance

Old World charm

Art Nouveau
Architecture

Customization
opportunities

Hand-forged

Solid steel
construction

High-penetration welds

Slip-fit assemblies

Powder coat finishes

Silver,
reddish-bronze, black, antique white, and blue-green patinas

Unlimited shapes,
sizes, and styles

Multiple base options
like wood, brick, and limestone just to name a few

Sleek,
substantial pedestal options

A steel gazebo can take any form from ornate Victorian with
beautifully turned posts and handrails to Nouveau Gothic with
intricate scrollwork across the ceiling and down the
pillars.

There's also
modern rustic and thoroughly modern with clean contemporary lines.

My favorite?
I'm glad you asked! It's the classic observatory with a dome and
pillars.

Your wrought
iron gazebo can have 5, 8, or 12 sides. Or you can choose one thats
round, oval, square, or rectangular.

If
youre zany like me, why not customize it with a
combination of any of these shapes.

Some wrought iron gazebos are just big enough to tuck
a bench underneath. And others are larger than any of your indoor
rooms.

Where Will Your Gazebo
Live?

This is the
single most important wrought iron gazebo decision you'll make. So
take some time to ponder. Youll be glad you did.

You want your
gazebo to be as inviting as possible. If it is difficult to use 
whatever that means to you  youll avoid using it. And that's
no fun at all!

You can stake
out the location with string to get an idea of how well the location
you've chosen will work. Leave the string in place a few days to see
if you can live with it.

Take it a step
further and put a chair in the spot you've staked out. Then sit
down, and look around from the gazebo's point-of-view.

Will you use
your gazebo to serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, or midnight
snacks? Think easy access if any of your plans involve carrying
items between the gazebo and patio, or house.

Let's create a
little mystery! Let's add an element of the unexpected! Position
your gazebo so the entire structure can't be seen all at once from
the house.

Make it just
visible enough to compel your friends and family to explore and
discover.

Youll have
lots of happy traffic between the house and your gazebo.

Gazebos are
all about panoramic views! Think about how you can position your
gazebo to take in as much scenery as possible.

This is really
easy if you have a large area in your yard thats also elevated.
Youll have a great view from above.

If your
property extends to a large body of water -- you are so lucky! You
can build a solid base that extends beyond land's end, overhanging
the water. Then secure your wrought iron gazebo to this base.

The visual
effect is extremely powerful. And the technique works well for
backyard pools, ponds, creeks, and waterfalls.

You can also
put your gazebo at the far end of the yard. Done right, it creates
the illusion of more space -- the eye perceives that the yard
continues beyond.

If you want
the gazebo close to the house or pool, incorporate it into your
existing deck or patio.

How does your
garden grow? Accessorize your garden with your new gazebo! Watch
your garden grow and smell your flowers at the same time.

With your
gazebo so near the garden, it will easily do double duty as a
potting shed.

The base will
give you a place to put your light switches and electrical outlets.
And with careful planning, you can even have running water and a
work or serving surface.

Solar and low
voltage lights as well as candles are all convenient and inexpensive
lighting options.

You and I both
know you need music in your outdoor room!

Add a
weatherproof sound system thats fed from your indoor stereo system.
This is also inexpensive and easy to install yourself.

Where will you
put the barbecue pit? Is it on the patio now? Will you move it
closer to the new gazebo?

I have a
friend who has outfitted his wrought iron gazebo with a stove, an
oven, a small refrigerator, a sink and a grill! Must be nice!

What about
drinks at sunset? You'll need an outlet for the blender. Margaritas
anyone?

Your Gazebo
Walls

You'll find that
some wrought iron gazebos have trellis sides while others have
pillars.

One thing they all
have is fabulous scrolling metal work and beautiful sleek
lines.

Take a minute and
think about how much privacy youll need -- yours and your
neighbors.

While living hedges
and living walls around your gazebo are strikingly beautiful.
They also give you privacy.

You will perform
miracles dressing your gazebo walls with hardy vines like
clematis, English ivy and wisteria.

Use Boston ivy or
Lowe's ivy and get rich fall color.

All of these are as
easy to grow as they are to train.

Choose climbers
like morning glory, purple moonflower or white lace vine for
quicker coverage in a single season.

For hedges,
consider using a variety of ornamental grasses, or evergreen
boxwood bushes. Boxwood is low growing, dense, and shears
easily into interesting shapes.

These natural walls
not only help to block the view but they do a good job of
muffling noise.

Say hello to your
creative side, and make your own walls with casual fabrics.

Drape your favorite
fabrics across any of the openings. Layers of shears are
beautiful and give really good privacy at the same time.

Gazebos can be
equipped with canvas wall panels. Install these on your gazebo
to block the sun or to block the view.

If you're going for
intimate ambiance, drape colorful fabric across all the
openings. The fabric can be attached to the top of gazebo
frame with Velcro.

There are also some
extremely easy and unique do-it-yourself outdoor shades you
can make -- yet another family bonding
opportunity!

Your Gazebo's
Roof

One of the standout
features of a wrought iron gazebo is the breathtaking
metalwork on the ceiling. They are architecturally contoured
works of art!

They can be flat,
sloped, arched, domed, pointed and filigreed. Some even have
eaves with stacked scrollwork for an oriental twist.

And the variety of
iron gazebo roof accessories is endless.

Don't forget that
you can have shade under your wrought iron gazebo ceiling.

A snap-on canopy of
weather-resistant parachute material is not only functional,
it has lots of visual impact.

Ever Heard Of a
Living Gazebo?

They're
made with real living trees!

I know -- it's not a
wrought iron gazebo -- but it's such an ingenious idea,
and so easy to do, I just have to share it with you. You
may never make a living gazebo, but everyone should know
how!

If you do decide to make a
living gazebo, choose trees that do well in your
hardiness zone.

The best trees for a living
gazebo have only 1 trunk with lots of side branches. The
trees should be field grown and their root balls should
be wrapped in burlap for protection.

Living Gazebo
Material List

4 young trees that are
6-8 feet tall each. You can use more, but not less

2 metal reinforcing rods
that are 21 in length and ½ in diameter

1 1-inch long piece of
wire

Some jute twine or
plastic nursery ties for securing the trees to the
reinforcing rods

Assemble The Living
Gazebo

Mark out a rectangle on the
ground thats 8 long by 3 wide.

Plant your trees at each of
the marked corners. Be sure to follow your nurserys
directions for establishing young trees.

In this step, you are
forming an X over the center of the gazebo. Put a
reinforcing rod next to one of the trees and push the
end into the ground about 1 deep. Then grab the top of
this rod and bend toward the center of the gazebo toward
an opposite tree. Push this end of the rod into the
ground next the opposite tree about 1 deep. Do this
same thing with the other rode.

Take the 1 piece of wire
and use it to securely attach the 2 reinforcing rods at
the center of the gazebo.

Bend a tree toward the
center in the same direction as the reinforcing rod. Use
the twine or ties to loosely attach the tree to the bent
reinforcing rod arch. Do this for each of the other 3
trees so that all the trees are leaning towards the
center of the gazebo in an X formation.

Caring For Your
Living Gazebo

As the trees mature, prune
off limbs that dont confirm to your archs shape. If
youve chosen fast growing trees, theyll soon fill in
making a living gazebo.

To keep your living gazebo
growing beautifully and maturing for decades, just prune
it in early spring and again in midsummer.

Tuck a bench under your
living gazebo for a fabulously quiet, cool, private,
peaceful place to stop and take in nature.

Enjoying Your Wrought Iron
Gazebo

I only have 2 rules for any
outdoor project:

Love the work that you
do

Love the work that
youve done

Playing in your yard is not
about getting through as fast as you can.

It's all about letting the
world go away and discovering your own pace.

It's all about doing
exactly what you want to do -- in exactly the way you
want to do it -- as fast or as slow as you want to get
it done. No worries.

There are so many ways to
enjoy your gazebo -- let it nurture you!

It's as easy as taking a
photograph of your accomplishment and sharing it with
someone else -- maybe someone who is far away, who would
love to see what you've been up to lately. Won't they be
surprised and impressed!

I get such a kick out of
re-arranging outside. Sometimes I absolutely love what
I've done. Sometimes not so much. The times when I don't
are the best. It gives me an excuse to change it --
again.

My outdoor spaces might
look one way this week. And next week -- you wouldn't
even recognize the place.

A gazebo is a fabulous
place to sit in quite meditation or to steal a moment
for yourself to simply stop and read a few pages of a
book.

Grab yourself a cup of
soothing tea and take it out to that chaise lounge you
so artfully placed in your gazebo.

A cup of tea to calm you
might be just the thing to bring you into the moment.

Why not take a muffin or
scone along to snack on while you relax?

The Real Value Of A Wrought Iron
Gazebo

Its not really the
leisurely gazebo atmosphere or the aroma of hot dogs on
the grill.

Its stepping back to look
at what you can accomplish when no one's opinion matters
but your own.

It's creating the very
place where you will form your family bonds.

Its making memories for
your family and friends that will endure in every heart
long after all those seasons spent in your gazebo have
passed.

That's the real value!

Recipes For Your Gazebo
Lifestyle

Food and drink always make
any event even better  small and large. So here area
few of my favorite outdoor recipes to help you get your
wrought iron gazebo celebration on!

Hold strawberries at room
temperature for 20 minutes Put 2 packs of the
strawberries in a blender -- undrained and blend until
smooth In large serving container, mix blended
strawberries, white grape juice, and the last package of
unblended strawberries -- undrained. Serve by
pouring the carbonated water slowly into the server
container.Add red food coloring for a more vibrant
color.

Easy, Breezy,
Cheesy Dogs

1 pound of hot dogs

8 strips cheese of your
liking

8 thin bacon strips

8 hot dog buns

16 toothpicks

Start the grill. Cut into
each dog 1/2 inch thru. Fill the cut with cheese. Wrap
bacon around hot dog and secure at each end with
toothpicks. Grill the dogs. Turn them from side to side
occasionally until they're brown and bubbly -- about 10
minutes.

Stuff buns with grilled dog
-- let's eat!

Grilled,
Glazed, Good Pineapple

1 medium pineapple

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

Soak pineapple in water for
10 minutes -- you'll be grilling it and you don't want
it to burn. In the meantime, melt butter on grill burner
and mix in syrup.

Take the pineapple out of
the water and slice it into quarters and remove the core
from each quarter, but leave the outer peel.

Put sliced pineapple on an
oiled piece of foil and cook. Turn and baste with the
maple butter until the pineapple is golden. This should
be ready after about 10 minutes.

I've tried cooking these on
the grill without the foil. It tastes better, but makes
lots of smoke when the maple butter drips on the
coals.